According to documents PJM has obtained, FOIA requests from liberals or politically connected civil rights groups are often given same day turn-around by the DOJ. But requests from conservatives or Republicans face long delays, if fulfilled at all. (And don't miss J. Christian Adams' PJTV interview here.)

Eric Holder’s Justice Department has even politicized compliance with the Freedom of Information Act. According to documents I have obtained, FOIA requests from liberals or politically connected civil rights groups are often given same day turn-around by the DOJ. But requests from conservatives or Republicans face long delays, if they are fulfilled at all.

The documents show a pattern of politicized compliance within the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. In particular, I have obtained FOIA logs that demonstrate as of August 2010, the most transparent administration in history is anything but. The logs provide the index number of the information request, the date of the request, the requestor, and the date of compliance.

Under the Obama DOJ, FOIA requests from conservative media never obtained any response from the Civil Rights Division, while National Public Radio obtained a response in five days.

In 2006, Charlie Savage, then at the not-yet-insolvent Boston Globe, requested all of the resumes of the recently hired attorneys in the Bush Civil Rights Division — including mine. DOJ leadership was convinced rushing out the resumes of dozens of lawyers far before the deadline was a good thing.

Savage apparently has never made a similar request to the Obama Justice Department, even though the inspector general has opened an investigation into political payback and discrimination under Eric Holder. I wrote at PJM:

Savage could bolster his credibility by making the same inquiries of this Justice Department as he did to the Bush DOJ. For starters, he could examine the preposterous hiring practices in the Civil Rights Division since Obama’s inauguration. The more time that passes without an inquiry from Savage and the New York Times, the more partisan his badgering of the Bush DOJ appears.

In spring of 2010, PJ Media requested the exact same information from the DOJ that Charlie Savage requested in 2006 — except for hires made in the Obama DOJ. Recall the Bush administration turned over all the resumes of attorneys as fast as they could, and well before the statutory FOIA deadline.

PJM’s request was ignored. Then on October 13, 2010, the request was renewed by certified mail. Still, no response as required by law.

So on January 18, 2011, the case of PJ Media v. United States Department of Justice was filed in the United States District Court in D.C. The most transparent administration in history? Hogwash.

Don’t be fooled thinking that anyone was congratulating the DOJ’s 2006 zeal in rocketing resumes to the Boston Globe. The Bush DOJ’s eagerness to speed attorney resumes to the Boston Globe was rewarded with savage attacks. Republicans mistakenly bet that being champions of good government would earn them kudos. The only thing it earned was a kick in the teeth.

That’s not to say that anyone should have violated the FOIA, as the Obama DOJ has done with PJM’s request. But why would you grant favors to political opponents who plan to cut your throat? I suspect the current leadership of the DOJ takes that for granted. Notice they have not suffered a whiff of scrutiny until now.

The data in the FOIA logs I obtained reveal the priorities of the Civil Rights Division — transparency for friends, stonewalls for the unfriendly. Those enjoying speedy compliance with their Freedom of Information Act requests include:

– Gerry Hebert, noted free speech opponent, partisan liberal, and former career Voting Section lawyer who testified against now-Senator Jeff Sessions when he was nominated to the federal judiciary. Same day service.

– Mark Posner and Robert Kengle of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
Kengle is the same former DOJ attorney who did not want to do election coverage in Mississippi where a federal court found that white voters were being discriminated against. Same day service.

– Brian Sells, formerly of the ACLU and now of the DOJ Voting Section. (Paging Charlie Savage). One day service.

It should be noted that the logs reveal plenty of mundane compliance to requestors of no particular note. Other times, very short delays mark a request from an administration friend. But in no instance does a conservative or Republican requestor receive a reply in the time period prescribed by law. The logs demonstrate an unmistakable pattern — friends zoom in the express lane, while foes are stuck waiting on the shoulder.

Politicized compliance with FOIA might be an administration-wide pattern. The revelation that the Obama Department of Homeland Security has politicized the FOIA process may be just the tip of the iceberg.

If so, what should we make of patterns of lawless noncompliance with the FOIA? If nothing else, it exposes the rank hypocrisy of those heady days in 2008 when transparency was a campaign promise. In the worst case, we have an administration willing to violate the law to conceal details about their governance.

Even this should outrage members of the mainstream media — unless of course they already zoom along in the DOJ information fast lane.

68 Comments, 51 Threads

President Obama is corrupt and it shows even without the transparency. I appreciate Mr. Adams reporting on this issue. Who else is doing it?

Think about ACORN – utterly corrupt. Think about meeting lobbyists in coffee shops near the White House so those lobbyists wouldn’t show up on White House logs. That is straight out lying.

Think about millions given to Kenya for an election. Think about wise latinas, Van Jones, and Rev. Wright. Obama’s distaste for white people is so marked that even a glance at his books about himself show text laced with race.

The people who voted this guy into office are chumps and the last day Eric Holder is the highest ranking law enforcement official in the land will be a good day for America. I’m so tired of watching the actions of a man whose head is so far up the behind of white baseball leagues and Jim Crow that it’s hard to believe grown man can leave the house while patting the calendar on his refrigerator that says 1954.

I’m still waiting for the Acting Asst. Att. General to be called out when introducing Holder to the DOJ and saying in front of a crowd something about it being good to have 2 blacks running the country. A white man would have been crucified into retirement by such a remark. Why are no witnesses to this event talking to the media and why hasn’t she been hounded into retirement?

Holder is likely the most egregious of Obama’s host of Cabinet heads and czars in his serial politicization of his department. These affronts to anything resembling “justice” keep popping up like Clinton’s “bimbo eruptions” . . . if only they were as benign.

This is not surprising. This is the same Justice Department that is ignoring the contempt citation by a judge against the Obama administration for not granting oil drilling permits in the Gulf of Mexico. Like Andrew Jackson once said about the Surpeme Court and one of their decisions,”Let’s see them inforce their ruling.” Our republic only works if ALL branches of the government follow the law. The Executive Branch, along now with the Department of Justice (and lets not forget the Black Panthers’ case), certainly are not.

Obama and his Holda ,being law-trained, are probably testing the ground to see just how far they go before being impeached. They must know that conservative lawyers are lurking to pounce. Opposing sides can use similar tactics going in opposite directions. Nasty stuff, politics and politicians.

Isn’t this a version of “Lawfare”?

Where are the Op Ed’s? Th’ NYT times can postpone things only so long.

The only surprising thing about the series of malgovernance that JCAdams recounts is the rapid response to Mr. Savage of the Boston Globe by the Bush Administration in 2006. GWB had himself a certain wide-eyed naivete, it appears, that history would treat him better than the doofuses now running our country into the ground. Of course, it might be argued that a slow response might have got the NYT and its pilot fish up in an inky dudgeon about the DoJ’s “politicization” which would then be picked up by the lamestream media and the other elements of howling wolves in the periodical media.

Sadly, GWB’s naivete on these issues might result in no historians being around to describe the standing wave of crime and malfeasance that is rapidly turning American public life into a snatch and grab shoplifting sortie by the Eric Holders and Kate Sebeliuses of the moment. The waivers on ObamaCare are another standing insult to the American voter, as will be Holder’s insistance in resisting any expedited adjudication of the ACA rulings on the unconstitutionality of the ObamaCare monstrosity.

I’m afraid if we elect a Boy Scout like Romney or someone of that ilk, the GOP will get pummeled again and simply allow itself to have its pockets metaphorically picked as the Bush Administration did through bonafides or inattention.

If this obvious pattern had been uncovered while Bush was in office, how many hours of major media coverage would have followed? (Those who insist the MSM is not biased may want to will certainly ignore this question.)

How many Democrat Congressmen would have demanded a full investigation?

How long would Bush have lasted before becoming the first American President to be impeached, convicted, and removed from office? (And rightly so.)

How many Republican Reps and Senators would have done the right thing and voted FOR such impeachment and conviction? (My guess – pretty close to 100%.)

None of this surprises me at all. I have little doubt that the so called “progressives” and “elites” will have no problem with this blatant disregard of the law. They view Conservatives as being not worthy of fair play. Anything that they can do (regardless of the legality) to hold down any conservative viewpoint, they will do.

My question is: Will we be able to resist the urge for turnabout when the Republicans regain control of the DOJ. My own opinion is to take the high road and observe and apply the law equally regardless of affiliation. However, I also find that there is something appealing about telling these people to “SHOVE IT” when the situation is reversed.

A future repub prez could take a middle road, complying with all dem requests fully, by the legally required date, while expediting repub requests. Technically, this would be fully complying with the law, but in an unfair and unethical manner. Of course, even that would probably be enough to be pilloried by the NYT.

But note that the large number of repub requests not answered at all, indicates that the Obama justice dept is not even willing to comply with this minimal (legal but unethical) standard, and has crossed the line into outright criminality. So much for “the most transparent administration in history”. Of course the NYT (the newspaper that prints all the news fit to print) has not said a word about this possible criminality, because their requests are on the fast track.

This should definitely be investigated by the relevant house committee. It could provide grounds for impeachment of Eric Holder.

It seems to me that these are impeachable offenses. Holder needs to be brought before Congress and forced to answer questions under oath. Where are all those people who complained about Gonzales “politicizing” the DOJ?

I have suggested for a long time that the correct organizational title should be The Department of Racial Justice, because that seems to be the extent of their interest in the law.

“Equal Protection Under Law” should really be removed from the front of the Justice Building, because it’s turned into nothing of the sort.

The glaring central flaw in the Obama administration, beyond simple incompetence, is their narrow-minded partisanship. Obama, it seems, is willing to act as president for less than half the country and is unlikely to be remembered as anything but a partisan phony. Holder, for his part, reflects this same attitude. Neither one is fulfilling their basic obligations to the American people, and I’m not ashamed to say it.

Who initiates impeachment proceedings? Wouldn’t some of the Obamaesque contortions of this administration rise to the level of impeachment? Or is this some political machination to keep the MSM from drowning the airwaves with attacks on the Chosen One? Are the Republicans delaying impeachment until they get a full crew in the Senate?

We are in deep doo-doo regarding thr future of the Republic and it doesn’t seem that this Justice Dept is being ignored on these blatant
transgressions.

“I think there was a coup and no one wants to say it. is the rule of law dead in the USA ..it looks like that to me.”

It usually is. “Law and Order” often just means keeping the peasants quiet.

This is where our politics has failed us, frankly.

I would observe that the favorite game our political overlords play with each other is “Blackmail”.

Sure…they could move to open impeachment hearings on Holder tomorrow, as long as they reckon that they could nail him to the wall, but I think that those who have the goods on the cur would far rather keep Holder around as their compliant human meat-puppet instead of staging a good old fashioned show-trial.

Clinton’s disrespect for “the game” as evidenced by his refusal to claim his shame, apologize, and go check himself into rehab for his penis-tip-chasing ways and instead stay on the field of play and argue with the ump over the call while his partisans tried stirring up the fans in the stands meant that the crew had no other option but to open the can of Constitution on his behind.

Lord knows that the Undocumented President must have entire ossuaries in his closet that he doesn’t want publicized, so it will surprise me very little if he becomes “Mr. Bojangles” and dance and sing for the GOP-led House for the next two years.

While this isn’t “cricket” according to “Test” rules, there IS a kind of justice to it, since Obama’s record in Illinois politics shows that his entire career was built on having his opponents’ supposedly sealed documents mysteriously revealed.

I have been boycotting the LSM for decades and I include Fox. I guess the Lames think if they can get by with continuing to slander flyover country and prop up progressives, then they will continue to do so.

The DOJ will continue with this nonsense as long as the Lames ignore it. I urge all conservatives, moderates, patriots, etc to join me. We must stop this attitude that rules and laws are for the “little people”.

I often wonder how much information is actually destroyed, or should we say permanently misplaced or altered by these caring simple servants in protection of their political gods. My guess is one hell of a lot. Trust the least the ones that say trust me.

Virtually all Democrats believe that anything done to Conservatives and Republicans is ethical and legal, while nothing done to the Left is either ethical or legal. “Progressivism” is a remarkably plastic ideology; unsurprising since it is only concerned with gaining and retaining power.

The only disappointing aspect of this is the outright refusal of conservatives and Republicans to recognize that there is no such thing as a good Democrat–other than the ones incarcerated for their many felonies.

The problem is the progressive mindset. We see that they have no interesting the Constitution and the rule of law. This is evident in the way Progressives Fawn over and worship Obama. The Progressives are looking for a dictator, messiah, or king. As we all know a dictator, messiah, or king rules by fiat and is above the law. So, they just don’t feel they have to comply with the Opposition requests.

Salvation can only come in the next election. Who is going to hector, berate, accuse, and finger-stab the criminal at the head of this administration in the 2012 campaign? Who is going to make Michelle Obama’s glare rise to volcanic rage as she sits in the audience during presidential debate? Who is going to stand up for the rule of law itself? I feel helpless!

Mr. Adams exposes another weapon in the Obama administration’s arsenal to destroy the America we know and love. The America that shed blood time after time, in war after war to break the chains of enslavement that nations like Japan, Germany and Russia have wanted to wrap around the globe, squeezing the breath of freedom from every living thing.

Now we face sneak-attacking Muslim extremists intent on killing us, our children and the free air we breathe.

What makes the fight so difficult and frustrating is that we elected a President who’s been out to destroy America since day one. Neutering the military. Bankrupting it financially. Letting our borders gush drugs and death; flooding the southwest with illegal aliens that Obama hopes one day will turn into millions of Democratic votes.

Two plus years ago, on election day, Obama’s labor unions encouraged their brother Black Panthers to commit acts of voter intimidation. Obama responded by directed the corrupt Eric Holder to let them off scot free.

Let’s face it, every vote for Obama two plus years ago was a bullet directed at freedom. Whoever cast those misguided votes didn’t elect an guy named Obama. They put a mole in the White House. I’m not sure even the Orkin Man can save us now.

The 3rd goal is to defeat the failed president in 2012 and have many states lineup eligability laws requiring PROOF of citizenship, and 11 are working on them presently.

I believe the failed president is too smart to be impeached, although he does not follow federal court rulings, and abuses his executive powers, and ignore state rights, and the constituion. He is one slick sick puppy and his wife is very ugly to boot.

The article would be improved by inclusion of a link to the actual data. I’m not saying there’s no merit to the article. It certainly appears that there is. But statistics can often be interpreted to support different people’s viewpoints.

Perhaps I missed the link, but I’d find this much more credible if the actual FOIA logs were posted instead of a few examples. Sorry, I’ve found too many cases of people on all sides of debates slanting or making up results to prove their point.

I can not believe that anyone thinks this Obama administration is forth coming and truthful about anything. Are American people blind to this guys BS, I know and respect that the black community has stayed steadfast for Obama, but please ask yourself what has he really done for the everyday people? Obama is even losing the hard working middle class black vote!

Nothing is new under the sun. From our hallowed Declaration of Independence:

“…..But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world….”

God save our Republic from this corrupt man whose agents know they are completely safe in extending his tyranny.

These are the only six words Congress needs to know with regard to Attorney General Eric Holder and his aides. If the President has aided and abetted this conduct, then Congress need to pursue this course of action with him as well.

“Republicans mistakenly bet that being champions of good government would earn them kudos. The only thing it earned was a kick in the teeth.”

This is what I meant in a comment I posted a few days ago: Republicans are bringing napkins to a knife fight, i.e. too often conservatives bind themselves to the rules of civility while liberals are breaking every ethic as well as law that gets in their way.

Until Republicans find a way to fight fire with fire, our grassroots fire will fizzle out. Even more importantly, “common sense” media like PJM has got to spread like wildfire. Until average Americans like my 2 naive sisters-in-law get the message that the ass media is supressing the real news, too many uninformed voters will vote Dumb to be “nice.”

We are living through an epic struggle to maintain our democracy, and most of our citizens don’t even know it. Incredible.

For the first time in my life and as a 62 year old ( and a Vet) …I hate to say it but I have to say it. I hate my country. I hate what my country has become. I hate the ignorance of the left, the corruption, the hypocrisy and it’s treason.

I hate the so called conservatives now known as the vaunted “TParty” for not having the balls needed to turn this country around. For grandstanding for the sole purpose of guaranteeing their electability. I hate the conservatives for their apathy over the failed social experiment called “multiculturalism”. Even the French have admitted it’s failure, as have the Brits, Germans, the Dutch, the Swedes…all except the US who seem willing and able to sustain muslim attacks, Latino, illegal invasions of sovereign states and the complete overturning of our laws regarding border security and this invasion.

I hate America…for not being resolute enough to defend our traditions…our constitution…our borders our constitution…our exemplary way of life.

I hate America for it’s politicians who lack the fortitude, resolve and backbone to use language which we understand. To fight back and tell the world…we just don’t give a rats ass what you you think. And be Americans.

Blame NOT the government but the people of the generations who sold their souls to the devil and sold Traditional America out over the past 50 years. We must not forget in America it is the PEOPLE who install the government and establish the social and political order of norms. In 1952 I recognized where the new democrat party was headed and switched over to the GOP thinking they (the people of the GOP) were the salvation for a Traditional Constitutional America. I have been proven wrong decade by decade since then….and especially since the latter 60′s and 70′s.

I agree with you that all the tough barking of the GOP/Tea Party folks today, is akin to peeing into the wind….ultimately making bigger fools of themselves. Todays generations haven’t the ‘brass’ to stand up and suffer the consequences of all their decades of foolishness, to return the Traditional Constitutional Government and social values the founders and so many generations sacrificed their blood sweat and tears for, to make the Federation such a great nation once upon a time. A pathetic time in our history I wish I had not lived to see or encounter!

Applying the term “politicize” to Eric Holder’s current actions as well as his ongoing management of the DOJ is to once again soften and hinder the truth. Eric Holder is corrupt, not merely political as evidenced by his repeated lawless actions. The DOJ, under Eric Holder, is corrupt, not merely politicized.

Those of us who love this country and its truly inspired founding principles based on God given liberty must stop yielding to the anti-American subversive left’s enforced template of politically correct words, phrases, and labels, and instead identify these people, their policies, and actions for what they truly are. Only then can we begin removing the facade of the leftist propaganda narrative thereby exposing the anti-American subversive left’s corruption, lawlessness, brutality, and willingness to destroy our country to achieve their Marxist/Socialist revolutionary goals.

The real problem with Eirc Holder’s corruption and that of the broader Obama administration is that the American people allow it to continue unabated. We are faced with what is arguably the most corrupt, lawless administration in the history of our great republic, yet nothing is done to stop their despicable behavior and totalitarian tactics. Perhaps we need to take to the streets in order to once again enforce the rule of law in our great nation and finally hold these corrupt subversives accountable for their actions.

Rest assured that until we do so, Eric Holder, Barack Obama, the broader Democrat Party and their numerous sub-organizations (i.e. SEIU, ACORN, Media Matters, NEA, etc.) will continue to march forward with their plans to transform this once great nation into the latest incarnation of the failed Marxist/Socialist state with an abysmal centrally planned economy and a people ruthlessly oppressed by self appointed elitist leaders and their brutal street enforcers.

Sound familiar? It should. It is the template of totalitarian oppression that has been implemented over and over throughout history.

Wake up America, the true enemy of liberty and freedom is from within.

It will take a lot to remove the president and his czars from Washington. I still think there was corruption in the last election and there is going to be much more in the new election. If the American people think the president is going to preserve their freedoms. DUM DUM
The freedoms we have as Americans will diminish while freedoms for illigals shall flourish. Got to vote them out folks, or we will be people without a country and the illigals and muslums will have it all. Did you know their are some people that comes to America, not to become Americans, but to make America another part of their home country. Your choice.

The city fathers and mothers of Long Beach, CA, have taken it upon themselves to neaten up certain young Long Beach residents by insisting that they “pick ‘em up and keep ‘em up,” (“em” being their pants.)

More precisely, “Bishop William Ervin along with Carson City Councilman Mike Gipson are calling on black children and teens to ‘pull up their pants on their waist’ as a sign of respect during Black History Month.” As a white elder, that insistence is as perplexing as Black History Month.

What Bishop Ervin and Councilman Gipson seem to be implying is that young black boys and men–young black girls and women seem to know where their waistlines are–are somehow demeaning black history by exhibiting their underwear. That fashion statement, whatever the nature of that statement is, and that concern, are baffling since there are so many other black issues the bishop and councilman could be addressing.

Other words of wisdom offered for black youths by the Long Beach community include, “You can have the swag without the sag” and a reminder that “the [pants-uplifting] plan is not just for cultural purposes, but may have legal benefits as well: sagging pants are often used for profiling purposes by law enforcement agencies:” http://tiny.cc/xllys

The “cultural purposes” reference eludes me but the lesson is that you can swagger without the sagger and if you insist on the sag look, you risk being arrested during, before, and after Black History Month.

I doubt many black youths are being arrested for saggy pants but untold numbers are being arrested for burglaries, robberies, aggravated assaults, rapes, motor vehicle thefts, gun possession, etc.

The Freedoms within this nation have started to erode. It does not surprise me that the government does not fully honor certain laws such as Freedom of Information Act. It’s kind of like the employment sector proclaiming: “Equal Opportunity Employer,” or the idea of “Innocent Until Proven Guilty in a Court of Law.”

Seems like from 2001 to present day, the United States Constitution has been compromised and/or violated. What most of society fails to see is that there are people out there who are trying to establish a New World Order and create a one-world government. The jobs and the freedoms of “We The People” are evaporating. Some of us are victimized by the television set with all of the hogwash that’s being aired on TV. One of the biggest injustices we are facing is the total number of people whom are unemployed, and the hearsay of the economy improving.

I don’t believe everything I hear the media hen-peck to us. When people speak the truth or try to hold the government accountable, they are labeled. They are labeled as either being a terrorist, a racist, a conspiracy theorist, a 9/11 truther, or an Obama Birther. We all know what the first three are, but here are definitions of the other two labels:

A 9/11 Truther is a person or group who believe that the attacks of September 11, 2001 were an inside job.

An Obama Birther is a person or group who challenge/criticize the authenticity of President Obama being a “Natural Born Citizen of The United States of America” because of issues with his birth certificate.

This article pales in comparison to my own experience with the US Department of State. A FOIA request I made which asks for the kind of information a birther might ask for took almost 3 years including a successful appeal. An almost identical request (but for records of some not connected with the administration) only took 3 months.

During the entire period, they never gave a substantive answer about why the delay nor ever provided any estimate of when they would respond They did not respond to the original request within the time allotted by law, did they acknowledge the appeal within the required time frame. The response I finally got was so full of doubletalk that I still don’t know whether I got everything I asked for or not. I finally submitted a more targeted request that has not received a response within the time specified by statute either.